Sgt Murphy book

At some point in the dim and distant past I found a book in my local library detailing the purchase and restoration of Sgt. Murphy, but for some reason I know cannot find it anywhere on the Internet. I assume Gordon Rushden was the author? Does anyone have a copy to prove I wasn't imagining it?

 

I can't advise about a specific book dedicated to the subject but Gordon Rushden writes at some length about the loco at the FR in I Tried To Run A Little Railway.

 

I recently bought a copy of that and it's what reminded me of it. It's just so strange that I can't find any record of it. Presumably it was commercially available. Whoever did the purchasing for our libraries when I was little had a particular penchant for narrow gauge railways, I think it left something of a mark

 

Just on the off chance @Elizabeth Perry might know or know someone who does. (Or am I thinking of the wrong Sgt. Murphy?)

 

I assume that refers to the purchase from the railway museum at Betws-y-Coed?
As I recall, the sequence of ownership and location is:
Ministry of Supply, Beachley, 1917.
Amalgamated Slate Association, 1920 to 1922.
Penrhyn Quarry, 1922. Fatal accident c1932, subsequent modifications.
Penrhyn Quarry, withdrawn 1947, in Felin Fawr scrap line.
Penrhyn Quarry, sold to J.R. Burdett then Colin Pealling.
Stored beside Mr Pealling's house.
Transferred to Cadeby LR, open storage and partly dismantled
Betwys-y-Coed railway Museum and painted black & green.
Ffestiniog Railway, rebuilt with new platework.
For sale, possibly to Japanese buyers.
Bought by Teifi Valley Railway, funds from the National Lottery c1995.

Please feel free to add details or correct errors!

 

Indeed, it's the same engine. Maybe one of the people at Teifi has a copy?

 

Having an idea of how dim and distant would help trace the book. Gordon Rushden's book is sub-titled "MANAGING THE FFESTINIOG 91-96" and copies found on the internet state that it was published in 2017.
It sounds as if your "dim and distant" book was long before this? Am I making correct assumptions?

 

I'd guess it was written just after restoration was completed, so maybe some time in the mid 90s?

 

Could the "book" have been a magazine article? In "Railway World", June 1995 issue, there was a 5 page article by Gordon Rushton entitled: "Sgt Murphy - a British Decauville".

 

I'm as sure as I can be it was a book, I have a distinct memory of borrowing it from the library here in Sheffield but I also can't find a single bit of proof that it ever existed.

 

I have Sgt Murphy at Winson Engineering,Penrhyndeudreth, where it was converted to 0-6-2, 15/12/1991 to some time in the second half of 1992. Not sure if it went there direct from Betwys-y-Coed or via FR.

 

On page 35 of Gordon Rushton's RW article he states that Colin Pealling's collection was sold to Mike Hart in 1991 and that included "Sgt Murphy" when at Betws-y-Coed. In the summer of 1991, GR acquired Sgt M and it went to Winson Engineering,